This year marks a milestone for Skout – it’s our 15th birthday! What began as a leap of faith from our founder Rob Skinner has grown into a thriving B2B communications agency built on authenticity, relationships and a healthy dose of workplace humour. In celebration, we wanted to take this opportunity to reflect back on our history including how Skout became Skout.
Our roots
From the outset, Rob’s vision was to create something beyond a one-man-band agency – he wanted to build a business with a strong identity. “I thought, right, it’s got to have an agency feel from day one. It’s going to have a name. It’s not just about me — it needs to be something that gets bigger.” However, he did want to keep a little bit of himself in the brand name. ‘Skout’ itself is a blend of his surname and the spirit of resourcefulness and discovery. “I was actually a Cub Scout leader at the time because my kids were young, and it just fit — resourceful, searching harder for stories, finding the good stuff. I swapped the ‘C’ for a ‘K’ to make it distinctive… and that’s how Skout was born.”
When Rob met Claire
Claire’s journey to Skout was unexpected, sparked by a mutual connection who saw a natural alignment. After freelancing for a few years, Claire officially joined the team, enticed by a shared ethos and Rob’s promise of flexibility. That promise not only shaped her decision but also laid the groundwork for the people-first culture Skout is now known for. “We built the kind of agency we’d want to work at,” Claire shared. “That meant prioritising balance, wellbeing, and learning from different perspectives.”
Now if you know Rob and Claire like we do, you will know that they are like chalk and cheese. Rob, the strategist and deep thinker; Claire, the dynamo with a laser focus on people and energy. Together, they just work. In fact, their differences are one of the agencies greatest strengths.
Staying strong
Of course, no 15-year journey is without its challenges. The pandemic years were testing but also revealing. The early days of lockdown meant Rob and Claire had to constantly adapt, reforecast, and recalibrate to protect the team and clients during a time when no one had a roadmap. Claire reflects: “There was no playbook — we were reforecasting every 24 hours at one point. But we kept our clients close, kept our team close, and focused on what we could control. Weirdly, I look back on it with a bit of fondness — we learned a lot, and it brought out the best in us.”
We now think of Skout in two eras: pre-pandemic and post-pandemic. Explaining to younger members of the team that we used to have to use a conference phone rather than Microsoft Teams for client meetings is always eye opening. Despite it being just five years ago.
Laugh out loud moments
One of our Skout values is fun – and sometimes this comes when you least expect it. From Rob almost missing the team flight to Palma (cue dramatic sprint across the tarmac) to the time he and Claire missed a flight from Amsterdam thanks to a faulty screen, the travel tales alone could fill a book. There was the infamous Manchester Tart incident, where Rob dubbed the dessert a ‘midweek pud’ at a formal awards dinner and the now-legendary McDonald’s drive-thru fail.
“We’ve had our fair share of pitch wins and proud milestones — but it’s the moments of chaos, confusion, and comedy that really bond a team. Whether it’s missing flights, misjudging desserts, or getting stuck at a drive-thru, those are the stories we still laugh about years later.”
The future
We recently transitioned to employee ownership and as a result, Skout’s future is about investing in team development and doing work that really matters. It’s the people that make Skout, Skout – and this is where its future lies. This is echoed by Rob and Claire: “Every person who’s walked through the door has shaped who we are today and that’s something worth celebrating.”
Here’s to the next 15!
Want to learn more about Skout and its 15-year journey? Our deputy MD Claire James interviews Rob and Claire in a special edition podcast. Listen here 🎧
